Chelsea beats Luton 3-0: Raheem Sterling ensures that Mauricio Pochettino secure his first win

Sterling had attracted rave reviews for his performance in Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham last weekend and he nearly opened the scoring in the seventh minute when a Chelsea free kick was headed clear and looped lazily towards him as he stood on the edge of the area.

Sterling met it sweetly on the volley but it hurtled straight at Thomas Kaminski in the Luton goal. It knocked the goalkeeper backwards and off his feet but he managed to hang on to it. Sterling held his head in his hands.

Caicedo’s first contribution to his Chelsea career was inauspicious. He got the ball midway inside his own half, looked up, stumbled, fell over and let the ball run on to Tahith Chong. Chong danced inside a defender and took aim. To Caicedo’s relief, his shot flew wide.

Chelsea kept pressing for an opener. Nicolas Jackson, who worked tirelessly throughout the match, broke forward and when the ball was laid back into the path of Enzo Fernandez, his fierce left foot drive kissed the top of the crossbar on the way over.

It was clear a goal was coming and it was no surprise when it was Sterling who scored it. He had begun where he left off at the London Stadium. Seventeen minutes had gone when he got the ball on the right, danced between Ryan Giles and Ross Barkley, sidestepped Amari’i Bell and side-footed a left foot shot across Kaminski and into the bottom corner.

MATCH FACTS

CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Sanchez 7; Disasi 7, Silva 7.5, Colwill 7.5; Gusto 8, Fernandez 7.5, Caicedo 7, Chilwell 6.5 (Maatsen 86); Sterling 8.5 (Burstow 92), Gallagher 6.5; Jackson 7.5 (Ugochukwu 83).

Subs not used: Bergstrom, Beach, Cucurella, Madueke, Moreira, Humphreys.

Scorer: Sterling 17, 68, Jackson 75

Booked: Fernandez, Maatsen

Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 7.5

LUTON (3-5-2): Kaminski 6.5; Burke 7 (Andersen 77), Lockyer 6, Bell 6.5; Kabore 7 (Doughty 70, 5.5), Barkley 6 (Ruddock 77), Nakamba 6, Chong 6.5 (Ogbene 77), Giles 6.5; Morris 6.5, Adebayo 6.5 (Brown 70, 5).

Subs not used: Krul, Berry, Woodrow, Johnson

Booked: Lockyer, Nakamba, Brown

Manager: Rob Edwards 6

Referee: Robert Jones 6

Luton, as expected, offered very little going forward. Even what appeared to be their best effort on goal, a near-post header from Barkley from a rare corner two minutes before half-time, turned out to have been nodded over by Ben Chilwell.

Chelsea’s unease in front of goal was underlined four minutes into the second half when Chilwell burst into the box and found himself ten yards out with only Kaminski to beat. To the exasperation of the fans, Chilwell hesitated and tried to pass the ball square to Sterling. It was promptly cleared by a Luton defender and the stadium groaned its disappointment.

The home side did come close to grabbing a second ten minutes after the interval when Sterling turned provider and slid the ball across the face of goal for Fernandez at the far post. Fernandez met it well but his shot cannoned off the outside of the post and away to safety.

Luton carved out their best chance of the game so far soon after that. The ball was worked cleverly across the face of the Chelsea box by Elijah Adebayo until it reached Giles unmarked just inside the area. Giles’ shot was on target but it was half-blocked by Malo Gusto and spun up into the air where it was claimed by Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea got the goal their domination deserved in the end, though. Inevitably, it was Sterling again. Caicedo, who had had a quiet game, played the ball out to the right, Gusto played it into the box and Sterling swept it home from near the penalty spot. Relief mixed with exultation at the Bridge.

Chelsea scored a superb third 15 minutes from time when Sterling ran on to a high ball over the top of the Luton defence down the right. Sterling let the ball drop and then drove it first time into the box. It took a slight deflection off a defender and that deflection diverted it perfectly into the path of Jackson who stretched out a foot to prod it past Kaminski, his first goal for the club.

At the final whistle, Luton’s fans sang about their hopes of staying up. Chelsea’s supporters moved away into the night, content that the gap between English football’s rich and poor still counts for something.